Many steps are involved with the production of rice. All steps are vital and affect the overall quality of the yield hence knowledge in each step is crucial. Diving straight in here are the steps for the production of rice:
1 – Seed Selection
The first thing you must do is to select rice seeds which you are going to plant. Many different environments contribute in the selection of rice seeds as different seed varieties all have their own benefits to the environment they are planted on. Knowing the particular rice seeds you are going to plant is not enough for seed selection as you ought to be looking to the actual quality of the seed. Seed quality depends on germination of the plant as the more germinated the better and if any weeds pr insects are present.
Rice seed selection is important to the production of rice as obtaining good quality rice seeds lead to faster growth which in turn helps with the resistance to pests and any diseases, as well as minimizing on weed problems that can happen in the early stages of growth.
2 – Preparing Land for Planting
There are a few processes which are required to prepare the land before planting the rice seeds. The main aim of preparing the land is to get the best out of the soil and to be able to level out the land.
Initially you will want to till the planting area which you can do with use of hand tools or machinery. Tilling the land is a process to turn over the top soil to make it simple for planting seeds, however its main advantage is to aerate the soil to help with the growth of the rice plant. The growth is benefited with the quantity of gasses that enter the soil such as Carbon dioxide by the process of soil aeration. Tilling will also rid weeds that are situated within the soil that will help with soil fertility due to the dead plants and debris decomposing into the soil.
After you have tilled the land you will want to level out the area. Levelling out the land is done to minimize water wastage along with labour which will lead to a better harvest quality. If you do not even out the land few areas will receive less water coverage and be harder to maintain which inevitably leads to increased labour costs.
You may also want to make use of the process harrowing which is in effect breaking down the large clumps of soil that has been created from the tilling or ploughing of the land. Large clumps of soil will allow less aeration and cause unlevelled land, so harrowing may be a requirement to get a levelled area.
3 – Planting the Rice Seeds or Seedlings
When deciding to plant rice seeds into your field there are two different methods to consider, they are direct seeding and transplanting. The first is simply adding rice seeds to the soil in the typical seed format which has not germinated(direct seeding), the disadvantages of direct seeding is that it can be costly in both seeds and labour in tending and dealing with weeds during initial germination. However the second option (transplanting) is more popular for planting rice plants as it offers a better chance of reducing detrimental effects during germination of rice plants. So what is transplanting exactly? Its growing rice seeds in a separate area until they have germinated sufficiently so rice plants have a better chance in the initial survival and growth of the plant.
4 – Water Management
When growing rice it is important to keep good water management for the growth of a healthy and good quality harvest. Keeping regular water to give access to roots of rice plants is vital as if the roots do not have access to the water lower quality yields can be produced. Constant access to water is required but this does not mean constant freestanding water is required which happens to be a myth. Misunderstanding comes from the availability of water underground, this is where the plants continue to gain intake of the water and nutrients.
Water management therefore is a vital part of rice cultivation that requires monitoring to avoid low water levels that can affect access for rice plants. In many areas water supplies are limited and one method has been introduced to help with minimizing water consumption. This method is known as AWD. Other good water management features consist from the initial steps of rice cultivation such as levelling out land. Find out more about good water management methods and its importance to the survival and quality of yield output: http://knowingrice.com/keeping-good-water-management
Importantly you must keep in mind water is a constant step that must be monitored throughout the overall cultivation.
5 – Plant Nutrition
Nutrition of rice plants is vital for various reasons including growth, yield quality and resistance of diseases. The intake of nutrition is therefore good knowledge for rice farmers for producing the best crop quality possible. However nutrition is not as easy as merely adding fertilizer every so often as rice plants require certain nutrition at certain stages of growth.
Various resources can supply nutrition to rice plants, for example by ploughing the field in land preparation will kill and destroy weeds which inhabited the soil at the time. These weeds will in time decompose and provide nutrients to the soil fertilizing it. These types of resources that supply nutrients to the soil are organic materials which when decomposed are known as organic matter, fertilizers are un-organic.
6 – Maintaining Healthy Crops
Rice plants have many threats which include rodents, insects and viruses and diseases. Apart from these one of the major, if not the major threat is that of weeds. Weeds around the rice plants can severely decrease the plants health by limiting nutrition it can have access to. You may think weeds are harmless but they can come in an abundance soaking up all the nutrients and water. Water can be limited to rice plants and even decrease the amount that can kill the plant if good water management is not in place.
Restraining pests and insects from harming rice plants can be difficult when pest sprays are implemented. Rice plants in growth stages have to be monitored carefully to be able to spot any pest occurrences. Spotting pests infecting the yield at early stages is most important to limit the damage of the plants.
Step 5 also describes the nutrition of rice plants which should be utilized to maintain healthy crops. Nutrients, sunlight, water are the major elements that rice plants require to produce healthy, good quality yields.
7 – Its Harvest Time!
Time for the harvest can be around 120 days but can depend on the types of rice. Pre-harvest of rice must ensure consideration of planning is made. Planning before harvesting of the rice is crucial to limit negative effects that can reduce the amount of grain. Two main effects can take place if bad harvesting practices are used, namely damaging of grain and loss of grain.
Over time rice methods have become easier and more options have become available. Basically the use of machines have been introduced to reduce costs and time for the actual method of harvesting…costs of the machinery can really be expensive. Due to costs the main traditional method is still most common especially over Asia. This method of course is manually harvesting.
8 – Last Process – Processing of Harvested Grains.
Once harvest is over and the grain has been separated from the plant there is still the process of producing the rice available to sell to consumers all over. Crucially this process is also important and loss of grain or damaging of grains can still take place. Storage of rice grain is important so that weather or other threats such as birds or rodents do not result in grain loss.
Drying of the grain also comes into play at this stage so grains are ready for milling. Inefficiency of drying here can result into loss of grain also. Over drying or under drying can help produce loss of grain.
Once grains are dried and stored processing of the grain through milling can now initiate. Milling removes the husks and layers of the grain to allow cooking and selling of the rice worldwide.
